By 
Within hours of hearing the devastating news of a major earthquake that recently hit Haiti, Americans immediately began digging into their pockets to provide some form of monetary support to the victims of this natural tragedy. While these charitable contributions are made in an attempt to help bring relief to those affected, it is important to remember the potential for scammers to abuse your compassion and desire to help the Haitian people by creating bogus websites claiming that they are working directly with relief. efforts in Haiti.
An increase in domain name registrations for Haitian charities since that fateful day is a key indicator of the amount of caution consumers should exercise when making donations online or by phone. Most of these recently purchased domain names contain the words “aid”, “relief”, “aid”, “survivors” or “donations” to mislead donors who don’t know where their hard-earned money is really going. Straight into the pocket of the unscrupulous individual.
One thing consumers should do before contributing to any charity is to verify the legitimacy of that organization before giving out any type of financial or personal information via a website form, email, or phone. Complying with well-known charities, such as the American Red Cross or World Vision, helps ensure that your donation amount is used for authoritative campaigns that can be tracked and publicized. Charity Navigator can also verify the authenticity of a cause, which is presented as a guide to smart giving.
In addition, consumers should also be aware of and skeptical of individuals who proactively contact them via email or phone claiming to be officers, directors, or surviving victims of a popular cause. It’s often easy for anyone to pick up the phone and call someone to make a compelling and honest application that promises to benefit those most in need, and unfortunately, this is the most common method scammers use to obtain credit card information. credit of uninformed people. consumers Your best bet is to ask the caller for their charity’s exact website and do a little due diligence before making your donation. This step is easy but often overlooked.
So before you punch in your best credit card numbers or give out your financial account information over the phone, make sure you’re aware of the dangers that exist for consumers, and do your homework before you donate to make sure your money gets to those who need it. they deserve it more.